Definition
Social values are defined as standards, which individuals and social groups employ to define personal goals and essentially shape the nature and form of social order in a collective i.e., what is acceptable and not acceptable, what ought or not to be, what is desirable or non-desirable (Kluckhohn, 1951; Tsirogianni & Gaskell, 2011).
Description
The pursuit of well-being and good living is an integral part of human existence. Efforts to articulate how this is achievable can be traced back to the 6th–7th B.C.E., when Homer, Aristotle, Cicero, and Virgil inquired about the means and goals of human nature that would bring people closer to happiness. Informed by the social, political, and economic transformations of their time, they proposed that bravery, conformity to the laws of the city, hard work, honesty, nobility, reason, and participation in the public affairs were values that encapsulated the good life. Although the relative importance of these values and their meanings...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Bandura, A. (2001). Social cognitive theory: An agentic perspective. Annual Review of Psychology, 52, 1–26.
Bateson, M. C. (1989). Composing a life. New York: Plume Books.
Baumeister, R. F. (1991). Meanings of life. New York: Guilford Press.
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1996). Creativity: Flow and the psychology of discovery and invention. New York: Harper Collins.
Dewey, J. (1958). Art as experience. New York: Capricorn Books.
Diener, E. (1995). A value based index for measuring national quality of life. Social Indicators Research, 36, 107–127.
Gecas, V. (1986). The motivational significance of self-concept for socialization theory. Advances in Group Processes, 3, 131–156.
Gecas, V. (2000). Value identities, self-motives and social movements. In S. Stryker, T. J. Owens, & R. W. White (Eds.), Self, identity, and social movements (pp. 93–109). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Giddens, A. (1994). Reflexive modernization: Politics, tradition and aesthetics in the modern social order. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Hitlin, S. (2003). Values as the core of personal identity: Drawing links between two theories of self. Social Psychology Quarterly, 66, 118–137.
Joas, H. (2001). The genesis of values. Chicago: Polity Press.
Kluckhohn, C. (1951). Values and value orientations in the theory of action. In T. Parsons, E. A. E. Shils, & E. C. Tolman (Eds.), Towards a general theory of action (pp. 388–433). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Mead, H. (1934). Mind, self and society from the standpoint of a social behaviorist (Vol. 1). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Morris, C. W. (1956). Varieties of human values. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Park, E. (2012). Cosmopolitan theories in psychology. In R. Rieber (Editor-in-Chief), Encyclopedia of the history of psychological theories (pp. 224–234). New York City: Springer.
Rokeach, M. (1973). The nature of human values. New York: Free Press.
Sartre, J. P. (1939). Sketch for a theory of emotions. (P. Mairet, Trans.). London: Methuen & Co Ltd.
Schwartz, S. H. (1992). Universals in the content and structure of values: Theoretical advances and empirical tests in 20 countries. In M. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 25, pp. 1–65). Orlando, FL: Academic.
Schwartz, S. H. (2002). A proposal for measuring value orientations across nations. Retrieved from http://www.europeansocialsurvey.org/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_view&gid=126&Itemid=80
Seligman, M. (2002). Authentic happiness: Using the new positive psychology to realize your potential for lasting fulfillment. New York: Free Press.
Smith, M. B. (1991). Values, self, and society: Toward a humanist social psychology. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
Tsirogianni, S. (2011). Social values and the creative ethos in the Greek knowledge society: A phenomenological analysis. World Futures, 67, 155–181.
Tsirogianni, S., & Gaskell, G. (2011). The role of plurality and context in social values. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 41, 441–465.
Van Deurzen, E. (2009). Psychotherapy and the quest for happiness. London: Sage.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this entry
Cite this entry
Tsirogianni, S., Sammut, G., Park, E. (2014). Social Values and Good Living. In: Michalos, A.C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0753-5_3666
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0753-5_3666
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-0752-8
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-0753-5
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and Law